As the white light enters the center of Bloody Mary's body, it seems to relax. I curiously look around for the Dream Mote, but can't see it.
The monster explains as they move towards the edge of the water, looking a bit like an octopus out of water as they use tendrils to pull themself forwards, dragging their body behind them. Once contact is made with the lake, however, Bloody Mary seems to gain the ability to hover above the surface, seemingly balancing on a lone tentacle.
I nod. "A kind of stone called Celestial Marble. There's supposed to be some down there, and I want to check it out." I join Bloody Mary at the shore. Their body twists to one side, as if tilting their head in confusion.
"It's what remains of something called a Divine Spring. It's important to the Demigods, but someone or something destroyed them, and I want to see if I can figure out why." I wade into the water, swallowing down the lingering nervousness I have.
Bloody Mary doesn't quite seem to understand as they follow me below the surface of the water, the only hint at their presence being their Magic Crystal. I'm sure encountering their common relative, the Ondine, would be scary as well since there's no way to tell they're there if they hide their Crystal core.
The lake is deep, and just beyond where World Knowledge indicated the Celestial Marble would be, I can see the shimmer of the Dream Mote. It hovers beside a conspicuously clean set of rocks that lean on each other in such a way as to create a hole that could fit me inside. Bloody Mary's den?
I guess their 'partners' would be the Crimsnow Algae in their body. With only the Bloody Mary and whatever lives beneath the layer of dead algae, the whole nutrient cycle seems incomplete. That is, unless you consider that the Crimsnow Algae most likely feed directly on Cold Element and sunshine.
I gently wipe away the thick coating of dead algae, grimacing at the sensation of touching it. It's slick and oily, like handling a moist piece of chicken breast. Beneath the semi-liquid layer is a crust of something that looks like old caked and dried blood in both texture and color.
As the water reaches it, hundreds of thousands of bubbles start effervescing on its surface, as if I shook a soda bottle before opening it. My left hand, which was still hovering above the now frothing stream of bubbles goes numb before an intense sense of hot white heat shoots through it.
I warn Bloody Mary, who immediately shoots off to their burrow. I get some distance on the still steady stream of bubbles before shooting off towards the surface again. Once above the surface, I activate Hover to keep myself from having to tread water, not that that would really be an option at the moment...
The surface of the lake around me looks like it's boiling, but instead of steam rising up it's supercooled hydrogen gas. Backing away even further, I take stock of my hand.
Its swollen, black, and frozen all the way through. I try moving it, only to wince in pain as it crumbles, breaks off halfway down my lower arm and drops into the seething lake below.
What the fuck was that dried blood-looking stuff? I curse myself for not being more careful as I heal myself, carefully testing the mobility of my regrown hand.
I stay above the water until the bubbles stop, then wait a little more, just to be safe, before diving back in. As I return to the bottom, Bloody Mary's core is just barely visible from their den, peeking out to see if everything's okay.
Luckily, it seems the coat of dried blood whatsit vanished along with the bubbles. What's left is a length of Celestial Marble of a strangely organic shape. Wait... This is the torso of the All-Mother statue! There's fractures and gouges where something broke off the arms, head and base of the statue.
*Analyzing marks...*
*Result: This Celestial Marble was broken apart by a humanoids' metal weapon, swung by force unachievable by today's humanoids.*
W-What?
*Assuming the goal of the attacker was to reach similar levels of destruction as seen done to the Demigod of Heat's Divine Spring, the attacker was interrupted before they could finish.*
Thunder-Lord Kechi's words echo in my mind. A shiver runs up my spine, making my scales bristle in response. I need to investigate that energy signature before I leave. Perhaps there's something there to tell me more...
Ignoring the fact that Bloody Mary doesn't follow me, I swim towards the glacier, only surfacing when I hit a wall of Celestial Marble keeping the glacier from grinding down more of the mountain it's resting on.
I've seen images taken from glacial caves in my old World, but to actually be in one, despite it being entirely the wrong color, strikes a sense of awe in me. There's a shallow flow of reddish meltwater running from deeper in the glacier into the lake, but at least the ground isn't covered in that slick goop.
It takes ten minutes to reach the area indicated by World Knowledge, mostly on account of having to navigate the often tight passages of the glacial cavern carefully. But once I get there, I'm left dumbfounded.
Before me, is the hatch to a bunker? A metal frame secured into carefully formed Celestial Marble holds a hatch-door with a valve-type opening mechanism. There's heavy signs of erosion on the metal, though it doesn't seem to have compromised its structural stability significantly.
I know better than to try the valve. It must be rusted shut, and I suspect that if I try to force it, I might just snap it off instead. Instead, I take on my humanoid form and poke my head into the door with Ethereal Phase. Ah, there's a ladder below.
I phase fully through the hatch and start climbing down. The hole I'm descending is just wide enough to fit a humanoid through, to the point I can't lean my head far enough over to see towards the bottom without hitting the wall.
The air is also stale, and as I sense the area below me opening up, there's the budding sense of familiarity with the scent that's in the air. It reminds me of grandpa's potato cellar, but more... potent?
Is this what a mummy smells like?
I finally step onto the floor at the end of the ladder. Looks like a laboratory? Or perhaps a workshop of some kind. Though, I've not seen machines like this in this World before... In a cage off to the side is the remains of a monster, possibly a Carbuncle? The poor thing seems to have died of thirst, but not recently.
In the middle of the room, on a table, is a strange contraption, in which a crystal of some sort is fitted. It almost looks like those very early prototypes of a gramophone, when they used a cylinder covered in metal film to record sound. There's two chairs, one positioned in front of what I guess is the microphone.
It's knocked over as if whoever sat on it rose in a hurry.
Examining the device more closely, it seems the crystal is the recording medium, though I have no clue on how to operate this.
*It seems there isn't a way to replay the recorded sound, at least not with this device. By analyzing the crystal, however, it would be possible to recreate the sounds recorded into it via this Skill.*
Please. If this could tell me anything...
*Please hold the crystal as to maximise connectivity.*
I carefully remove the crystal from its place in the machine, holding it gingerly in my hands and awaiting World Knowledge's recreation.
*Beginning transcript...*
*"So I speak into this part, and then the crystal remembers the sound?" [Pause] "Oh- It's recording now? O-Oh! H-Hello! Whoever hears this in the future! This is Narf's newest invention!"*
*[The sound of papers shuffling] "U-Uh, we don't have much time, since he's on his way, so unfortunately there wasn't time to create a playback device, but Narf is certain that this will happen in time, even if he's not the one to make it." [Woman's voice drops, faint sounds of sobbing heard]*
*"Excuse me..." [Deep breath, woman's voice continues, still on the verge of tears] "Now, the important part, which you in the future might have use of... Until very recently, there were five Demigods in this World. Each representing one Element each. Heat, Lightning, Plant, Cold- that's me- and ??????-"*
I flinch in pain as the last Element is mentioned. So even in recordings, it elicits a negative response...
*"However, the Maker of ??????-"*
I gnash my teeth, trying to ignore the stinging pain in my head.
*"He's... He did something... He killed the others! He murdered their Makers and stole their Faith! Now, there's only me and Plant left, and she doesn't have her Maker to protect her... [Woman's voice breaks, sobs are louder now] [Faint footsteps and a shuffling near the recorder]*
*"Th-thank you... I- We have to do this..." [Deep breath, voice calms down] "He's on his way here... Delphine predicted it. We- We sent her somewhere safe. She's too young to have her last Vision yet. Narf thinks the reason the Maker is doing this is due to the nature of ???????"*
My vision blurs.
*"Demigods need Faith to live. Faith is provided by humanoids worshipping the Demigod. But who would worship something like their Demigod? Their mere existence has ruined the area around their Divine Spring. Even with their blessing, those few who dare get close enough die young. The only reason they're still alive is their Maker..."*
*[Distant boom followed by the sound of wood clattering against stone] "He's here!"*
*End transcript.*
*Scanning records... Narf is mentioned as a peculiar monster that appears in local legends, often aiding humanoids with its strange devices. Most closely resembles the now extinct Gremlin.*
I realize I'm bleeding from the nose, have been for a while, as my hands and the crystal are slick with azure blood. I shakily set down the crystal on the table. I was correct.
The Maker of the Demigod in the Suchwallow Marshes attacked and stole the Faith of the others, no doubt to give to their own... But I get the sense there's something more behind it other than a pure necessity. What Yggdrasil told me comes to mind.
A Demigod can survive just fine without a source of Faith as long as their Maker is still alive, although their powers won't manifest as strongly. Then it hits me. All the other Makers were monsters. Monsters don't die of old age.
The maker from the swamp was a humanoid.
The pieces begin to fit into place. However... some change overcame the Maker between his attack on the Demigod of Cold and his final attack on Yggdrasil. When she...
World Knowledge, how would a Demigod go about ending itself?
*Simulating...*
*Result: The method with the highest probability of success would be to induce a state of Magic Overdrive within the host body. The Magic surrounding a Demigod would be more than potent enough to almost instantly reach critical mass and a resulting Mana Burnout. The Host as well as any surrounding terrain within a kilometer (~0,621 miles~) of the host would be atomized from the force of the blast. The shockwave would wreak destruction in an even greater area, with deaths occurring even ten kilometers (~6,213 miles~) from the epicenter.*
She killed him. Yggdrasil killed the Maker, and with him, any Faith he hadn't given to his Demigod.
I can only begin to speculate about why the Maker from the swamp did what he did, but I'm seeing the parallels in the Malice and what happened all that time ago. Envy for what others have... turning into Hate towards those that have what you don't...
And then it consumes you, and you become a calamity.